Rise Of American Feudalism

The bases of feudalism is best described as a social system in Europe throughout the Middle Ages where individuals worked and battled for upper class who gave them protection and the use of the land in return for their services (Merriam-Webster). “Feudalism” is not a medieval term and not even a translation of a medieval concept (Abels 2010; Brown 2010; Bouchard 1998). In our day and time Feudalism would be difficult and baffling in several ways, but some may feel that we would benefit from it.

Although the feudal system presented a mutually beneficial relationship at first, over time many burdens were placed on the vassals. A serf was bound to the land, thus resulting in a fixed income. Since he was unable to move to another lord, he was reliant on only what was originally agreed upon to provide monetary support. [Support was generally in kind, or in labor.] With no “right” to adjust the support needed for survival, the serf and his family experiences tremendous hardships.

During the middle ages the lack of protection and a stable government after the Fall of Rome created the need for a new political system. Feudalism was the political system that emerged and shaped the lives of people socially and politically. Manors were small communities that were made up of a castle, church, village, and land for farming. The structured society provided a place and responsibility for everyone. The feudal obligations showed that in exchange for one thing they would be provided with something else. Serfs and peasants would work and produce goods for the rest of the manor and in return had their land and promised protection. The vassals would need to obtain land from the Lord and in return would provide the Lord with military service, loyalty, and ransom if asked for (Doc. 4). To make clear the vassal’s specific allegiance to their lord whom they owed in for exchange for their fief they would take the Homage Oath (Doc. 2). This interdependent system required everyone to do their part and it created social classes that they were born into. Their daily lives were centered on the manor and that was how it stayed until towns began to

During the medieval times Kings had absolute power and the Catholic Church made sure God help the King retain this power. During this time feudalism was the structure that shaped society. In the feudalism structure the people that work the land the poor got cero power and live at the mercy of the barons. Barons where the owners of the land that people where let to work and make really low amounts of money while the baron sells and exchange the goods produced by the land and makes a fortune. At the end of the day the land belongs to the king and the king taxes the barons and collects money from all the land making him very, very wealthy and powerful.

Feudalism was a contrasting system dealing with political and military relationships existing among members of the higher social class, Kings, Lords and other owners of large lands in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. The Feudal system started by the granting of fiefs, chiefly in the form of land and labor, in return the lord would receive political and

The revival of commerce and the widespread use of money changed the relations between feudal lord and serf. Some lords began to rent out their lands to tenant farmers. Using those lands, serfs engaged themselves into trade, which allowed them to substitute a money payment for their feudal obligations and become tenant farmers. In the 14th century, the labor shortage caused by the Black Death led to a rise of bargaining power of serfs; many serfs’ wages raised and became able to purchase their freedom while feudal lords lost their power by the end of the Medieval Europe. At third, as stability and security in Europe gradually came back, the existence of a feudal knight’s military service became unnecessary. What monarchs were more willing to do is assemble large mercenary armies at relatively low cost. Based on all of the factors above, feudalism was replaced by a system of government that brought the birth of modern capitalism.

The rise of towns in the late middle ages had a direct effect on the feudal system in the middle ages. As agricultural practices improved production of crops was accomplished with less labor this allowed farmers to turn their attention to other endeavors which allowed them to make more money. The noble class was forced to sell the peasants their freedom so they could fund the crusades, pay loans and buy luxury items. The peasants not being tied to the farm, produced goods that could be sold at the local market place which gave many the funds to by their freedom. The market place where they sold these goods was located along trade routes, towns evolved from these market places. With the ability to buy their freedom most of the peasants moved to these growing towns looking for work. Most had

Feudalism differs from capitalism because there was no imperative to increase productivity. In capitalism, the pressure of markets forces workers to become more efficient. There is a perpetual competition between manufacturers for who can best meet the demands of the consumer, so workers are constantly trying to improve their productivity. As laborers increase productivity, there is technological advancement. If a worker or a business in a capitalist society fails to be efficient, it will struggle to subsist because the consumer would accept cheaper deals from more efficient manufacturers who could afford to offer lower prices. In contrast, there were specific rules, laws, and customs in feudalism that prevented the demand to increase productivity. Peasants were not driven to

In Medieval times during the 10th and 13th centuries, a form of political and social organization called feudalism was a way of life that had great effect on people of the time and on the modern world. Feudalism was developed because of the weakness of Europe and it's kings. The word feudalism comes from the word fief, which was the land held on condition of feudal service, similar to an estate (English). The fiefs bound together lords and vassals. Feudalism was a structure in which a lord divided his land into smaller parts to give to lesser lords (“Feudalism”).

Capitalism started up as a system of investing and sharing money in order to increase the value of resources in the future. Capitalism was just an economic system, but then soon turned into a complex system of ethical practices. Harari defines capitalism as, “a set of teachings about how people should behave, educate their children and even think” (Harari 314). This economic system evolved along with the people that were endorsing it. Capitalism enables the rich to get richer, while the poor continue to get poorer. There are many benefits to capitalism, but there are downfalls as well, and these downfalls tend to be masked because of the rapid speed capitalists grow at. Harari first presents a definition for capitalism, and soon goes into great detail on why capitalism, while fast paced and unforgiving, is able to stand unwavered while other productions fail.

In was during medieval Britain that feudalism ruled the land. The social hierarchy was labelled as estates and it was the private ownership of the land that differentiated the estates from one another. Those in the higher estates who controlled ownership of the land had more legal rights and luxuries than those from the lower estate. Those from the lower estates had a legal obligation by law to fulfil duties to those whom were above them. Any ownership of private land was ascribed at birth and there was very little social upward mobility. It was then that society went through a drastic and fast transformation. The introduction of new machinery created a prominent industrial society which created a capitalist society. It was then for the first time that most of the work took place amongst factories. The work was then divided into specialised areas and overlooked by managers. Throughout this capitalist era societies were referred to as modern societies (Cohen & Kennedy: 2007).

In the mid-19th century, a great system of economics, which would change our lives forever, was formed. That system was called capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system that was created by combining many parts of many other economic systems. Capitalism was based on the idea that private individuals, and business firms would carry out all factors of production and trade. They would also control prices and markets on their own. Mercantilism was the precursor to Capitalism although each of them different in many ways. Mercantilism was for the wealth of the state, while the motive of capitalism was for the wealth of the individual.

Hobsbawm argues that there was no division of labor under feudal society to enable mass production leading to capitalistic profits. However Lublinskaya shows that there was a concentration of disperse manufactures in Germany, Spain and especially France who had already established large scale manufacturing using division of labor since the early 16th century. So it can hardly be said that this necessary criteria for capitalism was missing in, or originated by the 17th century . Hobsbawm also makes the claim that the continue exploitation of the peasantry under feudalism reduced their capacity as a cash consumers . This hindered demand for mass produced goods and thus providing companies with little incentive to become active in more revolutionary capital enterprises. However Lublinskaya points out that the continual exploitation of the peasantry eventually forces them to resort to the sale of their labor power making them a cash consumer. This feudal system of exploitation did not ultimately reduced demand but stimulated it .

Looking at the decline of feudalism from an economic standpoint, there could be numerous theories and explanations why and how it happened. Nell says “The expansion of trade leads to an increase in wealth and size of towns and a decline in population leads to relatively greater decline in seigniorial than in artisan incomes” (J. Nell 328). Roughly before the year 1000, feudalism reigned supreme throughout various parts of the world, including Western Europe. Feudal Lords and nobles would partake in various ways to attain revenue. The decline in the feudal order was due to changing relations between factors in a network. In various parts of Europe the wealth being found in trade was dominating and being known as the ideal way to increase a peasant 's wealth. For the feudal lords, they would subtract a stipend of resources grown by a serf on land owned by a king, and this was given as payment, as the surplus of resources was traded. In Edward J Nell’s paper titled, “Economic Relationships in the Decline of Feudalism: An examination of Economic Interdependence and Social Change”, he goes on to mention various arguments and theories on the reason why the decline of feudalism took place from an economic perspective. One of the prominent proposals he makes is that the decline was due to a change in the relationship between factors in a network and that the trade, population, and class struggle theory are nothing more than factor explanations.

The people’s protections that were more common under a centralized government, as in the times of the Roman Empire vanished. As such, the peasants and the lower class found it necessary to negotiate with local rulers for security from enemy forces. This system included lords and serfs. Now, the nobles were stark contrasts to the peasants. Nobles exercised greater power economically, politically, and in other areas. Serfs could include servants, and peasant farmers. A lord could give land to these people in exchange for protection. This process of giving land as payment or reward was also known as a fief. In order to recognize the importance of how the feudal system came to be, as well as analyzing its strengths and weaknesses, we must go back in time to briefly see how the Roman Empire governed.